InstaGov

Overview

InstaGov is the working name for a possible solution to the problem of government, and more specifically as a solution to the flaws which have become apparent in the American system of government due to their carefully-targeted exploitation by the Bush II administration. It can be thought of as "government for anti-authoritarians", utilizing the power of cooperative action. It can work either as a supplement to an existing system of government or theoretically as a replacement, though a great deal more real-world testing will be needed first.

It is also the name of the software to be written for implementing the idea. The software will be open source and freely available.

• /introduction (draft) — read this first
• cooperative action: one of the major tools which can be harnessed without needing any special/official authority

Earlier versions of the idea (and different angles on the problem):

• citizen government: a solution without a method
  • backup government: earlier incarnation of that idea
  • Talk:2007-05-31 Repudiation, Not Impeachment: essay discussing some relevant ideas
  • User:Woozle/United Members of Civilization: another early incarnation
    • User:Woozle/United Members of Civilization/Government is broken: essay with a metaphorical view of the current situation, but no particulars
• internet governance: using the internet as a tool for running a government
• Issuepedia:Voting
  • virtual voting districts
  • voting systems
• Issuepedia:Issuegroups
• Issuepedia:Dispute Resolution Technology

Technical Details

• I have obtained the domain name instagov.com, mainly for the purpose of securing the name "InstaGov" for this project; I picture this as another gateway into Issuepedia but with the emphasis on InstaGov's functions. (Issuepedia's front page should probably be reworked as well, when this happens.)
• Software design details are being posted at HTYP.

Related Notes

• Freetown Christiania is a semi-autonomous community in Copenhagen, Denmark consisting of about 85 acres (a formerly-abandoned military base) and 850 citizens; an example of non-authoritarian government working cooperatively with existing government. I find it especially interesting that their gang problems seemed to begin when the authorities disallowed their open marijuana trade (also the bit about cooperating with the police to get rid of the hard drug users, and the police reportedly violated their promise and went after the marijuana networks as well). --Woozle 17:58, 12 August 2008 (EDT)